Swing AnalysisYoennis Cespedes

12/12/2011

One name that has gotten a lot of press is that of Cuban
outfielder Yoennis Cespedes. Since multiple teams are
considering giving him big dollars, I thought I'd take a quick
look at his swing.

Yoennis Cespedes

At first glance, Yoennis Cespedes has a nice swing that
certainly produces good results. For instance, he gets to a very
nice position at the Point Of Contact (POC). However, what
concerns me about Yoennis Cespedes' swing is
how he gets to the POC.

When I first looked at this swing in detail, the name that popped into
my head was
Greg Luzinski. That is because this looks like a fairly
top-down swing.

Yoennis Cespedes

There's no doubt that Cespedes gets to a better position at
the POC than Luzinski, but this clip at least suggests that he
doesn't get there quite right. For instance, and given the way
his back leg moves at the start of his swing, there is a
suggestion that Cespedes' lower body isn't quite right; it may
be something small or it may be that his shoulders are rotating ahead of his
hips rather than his hips leading his shoulders. That is
inefficient and may mean that
Cespedes is leaving power on the table (which is both a bad
thing and a good thing).

There's also the issue that, rather than keeping his front
elbow up through his swing, and adjusting by tilting over the
plate, Cespedes appears to drop his front elbow during his
swing. Many people teach that as part of a linear,
A to C swing, but it's not what good hitters actually do
because it can create a hole at the top of the strike zone.

However, Cespedes doesn't finish with the classic A to C, drop
the hands and finish down around the front hip finish. Instead, his barrel
is well below his hands at the POC and he finishes high. That suggests
that this isn't a major problem, but I'd have to look at some
more clips to render a definitive verdict.[1]

Having said that, I'm encouraged by Cespedes' position at the
POC, which is what really matters. I believe that, with time and
quality instruction, Yoennis Cespedes' hitting mechanics could
be cleaned up and he could be a productive hitter at the major
league level.

Notes

[1] Of course, since Cespedes already has
this tendency, his swing could very well be ruined by an
instructor who does teach an A to C swing.